USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 37
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June 12, 1864, Mr. Snyder was married to Miss Julia Wagner, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 14, 1844, a daughter of Andrew and Juliana (Hill) Wagner, the former an overseer of the highways in Germany, The Wagner family came to this country in 1848, being six weeks en voyage, and settled in Bureau county, Illinois, on one hundred and fifteen acres. They brought their daughter Julia, and had lost two children in Germany, and those born in this country were: John, who died in infancy; Mary, died in childhood; Elizabeth and Adam, twins, the former of whom died when one year old, and the later is a farmer in Richardson county, Nebraska, with four chil- dren living; and a daughter that died in infancy. Andrew Wagner was born in 1811 and died in Illinois in 1869, and his widow died in this Nebraska home, whither she had come after the death of her husband.
Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have had nine children : George, born in Bureau county, Illinois, May 8, 1865, is a farmer of Oklahoma, where he has one hundred and sixty acres, besides land in Nebraska, and is unmarried; Dora is the wife of William Mckinney, a farmer on Honey creek, and has two children; Miss Emma is at home; Charles is a farmer in Nemaha county, and is married; Andrew is a barber and farmer of Oklahoma; Miss Elizabeth is at home; Bertha is a teacher in the home district; William is on the home farm; and John Cleve- land is a youth of eighteen at home. All the children had good school advantages, and the six younger ones in the high school, Bertha, John, William and Elizabeth at the normal, and Charles and Andrew at the Atchison (Missouri) College, a Lutheran school. Mr. Snyder is a Democrat in politics. A few years ago his friends nominated him for the office of county commissioner, and although he ran ahead of
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luis ticket he was defeated by the rival candidate, John H. Shook. He was roadmaster for two years.
ISAAC HUYCK.
Isaac Huyck, until recently one of the prominent residents of Sher- man township, Gage county, Nebraska, located in this neighborhood in 1884 since which time he has made it his home. He is a veteran of the Civil war and enlisted in May, 1861, in the First Illinois Volun- teer Infantry for three months' service, but was not called into the field. His second enlistment took place August 25, 1861, when he en- tered the First Battalion, Thirteenth United States Infantry in Com- pany A, Captain Charles Ewing and Colonel William Tecumseh Sher- man (later General Sherman) commanding. Mr. Huyck served for four years and three months and participated in the following battles : Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Rolling Fork, Black Bayou, Haines Bluff, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Jackson, Colliersville, Missionary Ridge. Afterwards he enlisted, February 13, 1865, in Company K, Second Regiment, Hancock's Veteran Corps, serving one year in the Army of the Potomac. He was in no important battle during the rest of the war. He was in Winchester when our grand Lincoln was killed -a wild night when tough old veterans wept like children. He had revenge later, when on guard at arsenal where the conspirators were hanged, he holding a guard on right of main entrance. He has reason to be very proud of his record in the Civil war, and much more might be given were there space. On February 13, 1866, after a long and faithful service, he was honorably discharged and returned home.
Isaac Huyck was born in Jefferson county, New York, March 20,
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1841, the same year that King Edward of England came into the world. He is a son of John W. Huyck, also born in New York, and his father came of Holland Dutch stock, the family settling in New York and being then known as Von Huyck. Later the Von was dropped and members of it became identified with American history. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Miriam Herrick, and her father served in the war of 1812.
In 1845 the parents of our subject came across the lakes to Water- town, Jefferson county, Wisconsin, when the land was all unsettled. Upon the lot he took up, the father, who was a carpenter, built a com- fortable house and also found employment in erecting houses for others. Later he built mills and factories and bravely bore his part as one of the pioneers of the country. He lived in the first house built in the now prosperous city of Watertown. His death occurred when he was forty-one years of age. Fraternally he was a Mason, while in relig- ious views he was a Universalist. The mother lived to be seventy years of age, and she was noted for her kindness of heart and chari- ties. The following children were born to this worthy couple: An- drew; Achsah F .; Himina; Isaac; John, who served in the Forty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
Isaac Huyck owns and operates a fine home farm of two hundred and eighty acres in Sherman township, and also owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Island Grove township. On the home farm he has a good orchard of ten acres, and both farms are well stocked with cattle, horses and swine. His house is a very comfortable one, while his barns and other buildings are in excellent condition. In March, 1904, the family moved into Pawnee city, where they have a fine residence property.
At Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Mr. Huyck was married to Mary Helen
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Jewett, who is a native of New York, and a daughter of B. Hull Jewett and Emma J. (Cornes) Jewett. The parents died at the age of fifty-three years in Wisconsin. In politics Mr. Jewett was a Dem- ocrat. He and his wife had these children, viz. : George H., Henry C., Charles W., Edward H. and Mrs. Huyck. The children born to our subject and wife are as follows : Emma, wife of H. R. Jones, of Paw- nee county ; John H., of this township; Harry D .; and Gilmer A. In politics Mr. Huyck is a Republican and has held various offices in the township with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constitu- ents. For thirty-eight years he has been a Mason, and is an honored member of the G. A. R. post, and is now commander of the local post. Both he and his wife are highly esteemed by all who know theni and they are justly numbered among the leading people of their com- munity.
W. L. HEILMAN, M. D.
W. L. Heilman, M. D., physician and surgon of Sterling, Nebras- ka, and proprietor of Heilman drug store, has been a resident of John- son county for twenty-two years, having located here in 1881. Dr. Heilman has been a druggist for seventeen years, and received his degree of M.D. in 1897. He was born in Northumberland county. Pennsylvania, October 27, 1854, and is a son of J. and Mary A. (Reitz) Heilman, both natives of Pennsylvania and members of sub- stantial families originating in Germany. By trade the father was a carpenter and general mechanic and became quite prominent in his calling. He removed to Nebraska and located at Waverly, where he died at the age of sixty-five years. In religious belief the father was a Lutheran, and an estimable man.
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Dr. Heilman received a good literary education and after finish- ing his school days taught for five years in Pennsylvania, at the expira- tion of which time he entered into a drug business and began the study of medicine at Tecumseh. The Doctor is well known throughout Johnson county as a physician and druggist, and is a very close stu- dent of both branches of the healing art. He is popular with all. classes both as a physician and business man.
On May 25, 1881, he was married at Tecumseh to Belle C. Davis, a native of Illinois. She comes of an old established family of that state. She was born at Jerryville, Illinois, and is the daughter of F. C. Davis, who served gallantly in the Civil war. Dr. Heilman is a Democrat in politics, but has never aspired to public office. Fratern- ally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is very popular in that body. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, while his wife is a member of the Episcopal church.
T. E. MASSEY, M. D.
T. E. Massey, M. D., physician and surgeon of Crab Orchard, Nebraska, is one of the successful members of his profession in this county as well as a prominent citizen of the city. In addition to con- ducting a large general practice Dr. Massey owns and operates a drug store and carries a full line of druggist sundries.
Dr. Massey was born in Caroline county, Virginia, in 1860, and is a son of John P. and Elizabeth (Holloway) Massey, the former of whom was a manufacturer of Bowling Green, Virginia, and who died when our subject was still a child. The mother was born in Virginia, a daughter of Robert G. Holloway, an ative of Virgiina who served
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in the war of 1812. Both the father and mother of Dr. Massey come from old established Virginia families.
Dr. Massey is a graduate of the Missouri University of Medi- cine, at Columbia, Missouri, in the class of 1882, from which institu- tion he received his degree of M. D. Later he graduated from the Kansas City Medical College in the class of 1896. For several years he practiced in Gage county, and in 1898 came to Crab Orchard, Ne- braska, since which time he has built up a large and flourishing prac- tice and become very popular with all classes of people.
Dr. Massey was married in 1900 to Miss Lucy Laro, a native of Beattie, Kansas, and a daughter of John Laro. Politically Dr. Mas- sey is a stanch Democrat and a strong believer in the doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson. He is a member of the Johnson County and State Medical Societies, and is a warm advocate of all measures tending towards the education of the masses, good government and better con- ditions of morality.
D. J. REID, M. D.
D. J. Reid, M. D., physician and surgeon of Crab Orchard, Ne- braska, is one of the promising young physicians of Johnson county, and has been a resident of this state since 1883. His birth occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, December 6, 1870, and he is a son of J. O. and Sarah (Gibbs) Reid, both natives of Canada, who removed to Iowa, and in 1883 to Nebraska, when Dr. Reid was a boy of thirteen. The family located in the western part of Nebraska, and there our subject was educated in the public schools and added to his store of information by studying at home. Having always had an inclination towards med-
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icine he devoted his spare time to the study of that science and was graduated in medicine from the Omaha Medical College with the de- gree of M. D. in 1902. Although he is yet a young man both in years and in his profession, he has attained a distinction which is remarka- ble, and is building up an excellent practice among the best people of Crab Orchard.
Dr. Reid was married at Arapahoe, Nebraska, in 1894, to Sarah Harvey. She was born at Red Oak, Iowa, where she was reared and educated. Two children, Hazel and Muriel, have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Reid. He is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is deservedly popular. Dr. Reid is a young man of fine presence, is courteous in manner and makes friends wherever he goes.
SIMON TWEDELL.
Simon Twedell, a prominent citizen of Vesta township, Johnson county, Nebraska, has resided here for over twenty years, and has made a record of unusual excellence as a farmer and public-spirited member of the body politic. He has impressed his friends and asso- ciates as thorough and business-like in all he undertakes, and con- sicentious and honorable in every relation between man and man. His diligence and enterprise have won him a substantial reward since his advent into Johnson county, and he is in the comfortable enjoyment of plenty gained by past efforts. He is likewise esteemed as a veteran of the Civil war, in which he gave a loyal citizen's best service.
Mr. Twedell was born in Schenectady county, New York, October 22, 1842, a son of William and Hannah (Hoffman) Twedell. The
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former was born of Scotch parents and in Scotland not far from Ed- burgh, and came to the United States in young manhood. He died when his son Simon was two years old, and his wife died at the age of twenty-three. They had five children, and the three sons, Jacob, Thomas and Simon were soldiers. Jacob was killed at Malvern Hill; Thomas was killed at Cedar Creek under Sherman.
Mr. Twedell was reared in New York, and was nineteen years old when he offered his services to the country. October 8, 1861, he en- listed in Company H, Thirty-fifth Indiana. Infantry, under Captain Crow and Colonel John C. Walker. He saw sixteen months' service. He was sent south and took part in the battle of Shiloh, and was then transferred to the Army of the Potomac under Burnside, and was in the terrible conflicts of Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and about Petersburg, and was at Winchester when Sher- idan made his famous ride. He was wounded in the knee, but missed very few days from the ranks. After his time as a volunteer soldier had expired he joined the regular United States army, and after the war was sent to San Francisco, California, where he served in vari- ous campaigns against the Indians for two years. He was under Cap- tain Robinson and Colonel French in the Second United States Artil- lery. He was discharged with a fine record as a soldier, for he had seen five years of arduous campaigning during the most critical period of the nation's history. He early learned the trade of broom-maker, and after his return from the war he was in Butler county, Ohio, for some time, following his trade and engaged in farming. In 1883 he came to Johnson county, Nebraska, and located on a farm southwest of Tecumseh. He improved a farm of one hundred acres, and was very successful. He came to Vesta in 1901, and has a fine home at this place with plenty of fruit and a garden.
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Mr. Twedell was married in Butler county, Ohio, to Miss Eliza- beth Iutzi, who was born and reared in that county, and has been a most devoted wife and mother. They had two children; Mrs. Helen Griffin, of Tecumseh, who has four sons; and William, who died at the age of eighteen, after giving promise of splendid manhood and ripe devel- opment of powers; he was loved by all, and his loss is still deeply felt by his parents. Mr. Twedell is independent in political allegiance .; although Republican in principle. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the United Brethren church.
WILLIAM L. CLARK.
William L. Clark is one of the oldest settlers of this part of Nebraska, having lived in Pawnee and Johnson counties since 1867. which was the year of the admission of the territory to the Union. The surrounding country was then almost entirely uncultivated, the landscape presented only a view of prairie grass, timbered only along the streams, and some of the old denizens of the country in the shape of Indians and wild animals were still to be found. Railroads had not yet penetrated the territory, and Mr. Clark had to face truly pioneer conditions for the first few years. His energy and perseverance, how- ever, prevailed over the inertia of the past, and since the date of his coming he has been steadily advancing on the up-grade of prosperity. He is honored for what he has accomplished in a material way, and also for the worthy part he has played as a citizen, especially when he offered his services to the Union cause and followed the flag until the wounds of the conflict disabled him for active duty and compelled him to return to the peaceful farm and fireside.
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Mr. Clark was born in Fulton county, Illinois, November 18, 1838, of a family of early settlers in that state. His father, Michael Clark, was born of Irish parents from Dublin, and was married after coming to Fulton county, Illinois, to Rachel Smith, who was born in Virginia of an old family of that commonwealth. They had four children, a daughter, Mattie Jones, and the three sons were soldiers in the Civil war-Alanson, of the Thirty-second Illinois Infantry for four years, and he died in Fulton county; John, in the Eighty-sixth Illinois for three years, now lives in Sterling, Nebraska, and William L.
William L. Clark lost his mother when he was three years old, and was reared by a Mrs. Jones. He spent his youth on a farm and was educated in the public schools, and for some time before the war lived in Peoria county, Illinois. In August. 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany I, Eighty-sixth Illinois Infantry, under Captain Phelenstock and Colonel Irons. The regiment rendezvoused at Peoria, Illinois, was then ordered to Louisville, in time to take part in the battle at Perry- ville. Here Mr. Clark was wounded in the right arm and in the right side, and soon after, while his regiment was scaling a stone wall, was struck in the head. He was senseless for a time, but was later removed to the field hospital, and after a partial recovery rejoined his regiment at Nashville. But he was incapable for active duty, and was discharged, as it was thought he could not live. He returned home and regained his strength under careful nursing at home. In 1867 he moved out to Nebraska and lived in Pawnee county until 1875, in which year he located in Jolinson county, and has been a resident here for over a quarter of a century. He owns a nice farm of sixty-five acres just one mile from Vesta, and on it has a good home, all necessary improvements and some timber land, and has met with well deserved prosperity.
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November 3, 1859, Mr. Clark was married in Peoria, Illinois, to Miss Sarah Fuller, who has been a devoted wife and mother for over forty years. She was born and reared in Illinois, and was a daughter of Joseph and Elsie (Cowgill) Fuller, who both died in Illinois. Two of Mrs. Clark's brothers, Amos and Jolin, were soldiers in the Civil war, members, respectively, of the Forty-seventh and Thirty-second Illinois regiments. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clark : Daniel, born in Illinois, lives five miles south of Tecumseh, and is engaged in the blacksmith, well and pump business, in com- pany with his brother Allen, of Vesta; he married Louisa Noyes, and they have had six children, Charles B., Enda, Bernice, Verna, and Ella and Daniel, deceased. John V., the second child of the family, lives near Vesta. Mrs. Mary Ross resides in Perry, Oklahoma. . Judson, a widower, lives in Berlin, Nebraska, his three children, Cleo, Fay and Veda, live with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, by whom they are loved as their own children. Mr. Clark is a Republican in poli- tics, and is a popular member of the Grand Army Post at Tecumselı. He is a Woodman of the World, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
BENJAMIN F. SHOWALTER.
Benjamin F. Showalter, one of the prominent farmers of Maple Grove township, Johnson county, Nebraska, with postoffice at Vesta, ha: had a prosperous career both in this county and in the other places of his residence, and is everywhere known as a man of ability, industry, and honorable principles. He is esteemed as one of the remaining veterans of the Civil war, during which he served for three years and
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was in the most brilliant and strenuous campaign of the entire con- flict.
Mr. Showalter was born near Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, October 26, 1844, son of Daniel and Catherine (McCarran) Showal- ter, the former of German descent and a native of Pennsylvania and the latter born in Ohio. When Mr. Showalter was a baby the family moved to the then territory of Iowa, being pioneers of Washington county, but later in life the parents came to Nebraska, where Daniel Showalter died at the age of seventy-two years and his wife at the age of seventy-five. They were members of the Baptist church, and highly respected people in whatever community they resided. There were six children in their family.
Benjamin F. Showalter was reared on a pioneer farm in Iowa, and taught to work, gaining his schooling during the winter months in a log schoolhouse. He was eighteen years old when he enlisted from Washington county, in August, 1862, in Company A, Twenty-fifth Iowa Infantry, under Captain D. J. Palmer and Colonel George A. Stone. After being recruited and equipped in the camp at Mount I'leasant, the regiment was ordered south, where it took part in the battles of Helena, Arkansas, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, all through the siege of Vicksburg, at Jackson, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, thence with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, after the fall of Atlanta in the march to the sea, up through the Carolinas after Joe Johnston, and after his surrender on to Washington, where the grand pageant of the soldiers' review was held. Mr. Showalter was honorably discharged June 9, 1865, and after the muster out at Davenport, Iowa, went home to the peaceful duties of the farm. He lived in Iowa for some time, and in 1869 came to Nebraska. In 190! he bought the fine one hundred and seventy acre farm known as the
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Thomas Acker place, in Maple Grove township and a mile and a half from Vesta. This farm has all the modern improvements, a good house and ample barns, and he is doing well with his general farming and stock-raising operations.
Mr. Showalter was married in 1867 to Miss Caroline A. Carter, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, a daughter of Hugh and · Emma (Wyckoff) Carter, who both died in Washington county, Iowa. Huglı Carter engaged in the tin and hardware business; he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife died at the age of thirty-eight years, and she was a member of the Methodist church. There were six children, two sons and four daughters, in their family. Mr. and Mrs. Showalter have had six children: Anna C. is married and living in Ulysses, Nebraska; Daniel L. is in Lincoln, Ne- braska; Katie B. is at home; and Ella, Winnie and an infant are de- ceased. Mr. Showalter is now a Populist, having come over from the ranks of the Republican party. He is a well known Grand Army man, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
WILLIAM BRANDOW.
William Brandow is one of the most successful and progressive stock farmers of Richardson county, and his farm at Humboldt is a model of its kind. He keeps only the highest grades of cattle and hogs, and makes a specialty of breeding fine animals. He is aided in this en- terprise by his thrifty and business-like wife, and together they have built up a most profitable business. Their up-to-date methods and management have brought deserved rewards, and they rank among the foremost citizens of the county.
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Mr. Brandow has lived in Humboldt precinct since May 1, 1869, and accordingly ranks among the old settlers. He was born in Upper Canada in 1850, and was brought to Chicago in the same year. His father, Moses Brandow, was born in Canada, March 12, 1820, and died in Humboldt precinct in 1891. Grandfather Brandow was one of four brothers who came to America and settled in the Catskill moun- tains of New York and in Canada. He went to KeKalb county, Illi- nois, in 1850, but did not like the country and returned to Canada, but was not heard of afterward. Moses Brandow was one of eight chil- dren, five sons and three daughters. He was a carpenter by trade, and for a time owned and operated a farm in Illinois. He came to Ne- braska with five hundred dollars in cash, and paid eight hundred dol- lars for a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, with a log house and a few improvements, and passed the remainder of his life on this place, most of which makes up the present farmstead of his son Willian, who bought out the other heirs. Moses Brandow married Phebe Woods, who was born in Canada in 1821, and died in this county in 1892. They were married in 1838, and had seven children: A daughter died in infancy; John is a mechanic in Illinois, and has one daughter; Eliza- beth, the widow Groesbach, lives in Arizona and has several children by two marriages; Thomas was a soldier during the last year of the Civil war, and died in Iowa in 1868; William is the fifth of the chil- dren ; Angeline Elliott, in Colorado, has four living children; Emma Ray, in California, has two children.
Mr. William Brandow was educated in Illinois, and after coming to Nebraska remained with his parents and helped cultivate the home place, and after his parents' death he bought and came into possession of one hundred and twenty acres of this farm, and this forms his pres- ent place. In 1894 he formed the life partnership which has contrib-
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uted so much to his success. He married, in that year, Miss Nellie Matten, who was born in Richardson county, October 8, 1870, a dauglı- ter of David and Elizabeth (Draper) Matten, the former of Germany, the latter of Indiana. Her father came to this country fifty years ago, and was a soldier of the Civil war. He was a well-to-do farmer, and died at sixty, leaving three sons and two daughters. His wife died six months later. Mrs. Brandow is a graduate of the Humboldt schools and is a very intelligent and capable woman. She keeps the records and accounts of the stock farm, and can give the pedigree of every head of stock on the place. Mr. Brandow began the stock business in 1898, and has since sold as high as twenty-five hundred dollars' worth annually. He keeps a herd of Duroc Jersey hogs, all registered, and shorthorn cattle, and there are no better animals to be found in the state. He paid five hundred dollars for three Duroc Jersey sows, one of which he lost, and by his careful management and constant improv- ing of breeds has built up a fine trade and keeps a beautiful and valu- able herd of cattle and hogs. In his list he has a four-year-old Poll Durham bull weighing twenty-three hundred pounds, and as fine a specimen as can be found in the county. The one hundred and twenty acres of the farm is under the highest state of cultivation, and well improved, there being two orchards, good buildings and barns com- modious and ample for the accommodation of all the stock and grain.
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